what acronis does is different than just doing a back up of files, acronis takes a snap shot of your entire hard drive including the operating system so it is an image, then should you need to restore from it you would be restoring every single thing including the operating system.

In doing just data and file backups should you need to do a full reformat then you would need to have either a copy of your operating system cd to re-install your OS or the recovery cd, and then you could use your file and data backups to put those back in place once you had re-installed your OS and done all the many updates for it, which can be a long and tedious procedure.

So it is a better way to backup when using an image you can be back up and running in very short order at the exact point in time that you did your last image save.

You could certainly leave the data you have saved on the external hard drive and just make a new folder to put your acronis images into you seem to have plenty of room available. Usually the acronis version that comes with a branded drive may be a bit different than the stand alone version of acronis you can buy but I would think it would be just fine.
there are some very good tutorials available on how to use acronis if you need those just ask or google for it.

In my opinion an image backup is the best way to go.

RC, thanks for the info... in your answer you said "just make a new folder to put your acronis images into", my question is- will making a new folder be hard to do or will it be self explanitory in the process of setting up the controls on the Acronics once it is downloaded.

using the external hard drive is pretty much like using the one on the pc, you can access it through My Computer and then going to that drive, you can create folders in that drive just like you do on your hard drive, once you have a new folder on it then you can select that folder to store updates in etc. These are the basic steps

How to create folders in Windows:

1. Double-click on (My) Computer.

2. Find the external drive's drive letter

3. Double-click on the drive letter. The window will change to display the contents inside the drive.

4. Right-click inside the window. A menu will open.

5. Choose "New" and then "Folder".

6. Click on the folder's name to rename the folder.

7. Repeat as many times as you need.

OK, thanks RC, now I have an idea of what I need to do. I am going to do some more studying and then tackle it. I'm going to google to try and find some sources

Thanks again.

some of the tutorials I know of
Creating a Hard Drive Image using Acronis True Image

Using Acronis True Image 11 Home

Acronis True Image Tutorial Backup Strategy

Acronis

the version that comes with your drive as I said may be a little different but should be pretty close.

there are several free image programs available too.

Thanks for the links, I had actually been studying two of them that I found by doing a google search. That gives me confidence that I'm on the right track since they are ones that you recognize.

Still seems a daunting task, but I'm going to go slow.

Thank you again...this forum and all you guys that help are the greatest.